29 June 2012

Colorado reassures tourists as wildfire continues to rage

Tourism officials in Colorado are reassuring tourists as a wildfire continues to rage through the US city of Colorado Springs.

More than 32,000 people have fled the fire which started on Saturday due to an unusually hot and dry summer and has burnt down at least 346 homes.

Several hotels were temporarily evacuated, including Hyatt, Hilton, Best Western and Days Inn.

But the tourism body claims many of the state"s destinations and attractions are open for business and has created an information page to keep the industry and tourists updated.

Al White, chief of the Colorado Tourism office, said: "Colorado is a big state and that visitors should look at the entire state in context of where the fires are located.

"We have developed a page on Colorado.com that will be a resource for travellers seeking tourism related fire updates. This will be updated and aggregated with information directly from industry partners located in areas impacted by the fires.

"We do not know to what extent our summer tourism season will be impacted by the fires, but we want to create the best vacation experience possible for those planning trips to Colorado."

To visit the page, click here.

By Diane Evans